The National Geographic Magazine
llurt iK Studio
Shawneetown's Bank Kept Doors Open for the Skiff Trade Throughout the Flood
Business was conducted on the second floor from January 26 to March 17, 1937 (page 287). Not until
St. Patrick's Day was the high first floor free of water. Sixteen people made the upper story their home
during the inundation. This photograph was made in February. High-water mark is visible on pillars.
around the United States Salines and per
mitted the use of slaves there until 1825.
As the timber near the wells gradually dis
appeared in the flames, the salt producers dis
covered that it was cheaper to move the kettles
back into the forests than to transport the
fuel over long distances to the wells. In
geniously, they set up a primitive pipe line.
Pipe Line for Brine
They felled trees 10 to 16 inches in diameter,
and 12 to 20 feet long. Then they bored two
inch augur holes through the logs. The open
ing at the butt end of each log was reamed
out, and the small end was tapered. The
tapered end of one log was forced into the
reamed end of another. Iron bands kept the
butt ends from splitting. In this manner the
brine from the wells was piped out over hills
and small streams to the kettles three to four
miles in the forest.
When the salt industry was in full swing
production exceeded 120,000 bushels a year.
Hundreds of men were employed-loggers,
wood-haulers, evaporating pan hands, coopers,
inspectors, storekeepers, rivermen. The bar
rels of salt were hauled to Shawneetown and
shipped there by riverboat to Pittsburgh and
New Orleans, from where they were distrib
uted throughout the East and the South.
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